The Devil's Messenger, Enlisted
by K.O.D. Lazarus
Summary: Earth can't rely on her Spartans, being so few in number, so she calls upon someone to defend her. The problem: The UNSC didn't want him in the first place. One city's A.I. did and made a deal with him. But he has a dark past...filled with so many holes that it is impossible to know the truth. So who was - is - Lazarus Figueroa? (O.C.'s involved, canon char's will be here too)
1. Ch 1: Brutality Loves Company as Well

**The Devil's Messenger, Enlisted**

**Act I: A Warm Welcome  
Ch. 1: Brutality Loves Company As Well**

**Author's Intro/Foreword:** Welcome people of all upper teenage years and beyond! – unless you're reading this and not supposed to…This is my first fanfiction story that I have ever made, however, this is not the first story I have ever made. So hopefully my skillz from past works will contribute to this and my first fanfic won't be too horrible. All I can say now is to enjoy the story, review, and get ready to read, read, read – not necessarily in that order. Now time for my warning…then format and disclaimer…

**WARNING! – **That was appropriate. Anyways, this is one of the many chapters you can read that include some pretty gruesome scenes. I'm going to be honest right now about how I turn into a sadist when I do CQC (Close Quarters Combat) fights. Don't forget the inappropriate language which will undoubtedly consist of either cuss words, or some risqué things (There are some Spanish ones in here too :D) Besides that, there is an OC involved! So if you hate them, I just ask you to please give mine a chance, and any others that may come along. Anything else for me to warn you about? Well, I recently learned a special word called "Smut" and there will be a small amount involved, peppered/lemoned around the Acts a little bit.

**Format**: This is going to be written in a special way: like, I'll always have an intro, short warning (if needed), and a disclaimer in the beginning of each chapter. I will also have one or two quotes from the chapter, at the beginning of the chapter, just because I like the kind of effect it gives. After the quote/s will be the body, then a short (possibly crappy) random quote from the real world, then the chapter question/s, a story advertisement and my desperate pleas for your reviews. I don't know if I'll add anything later on, or have intermission chapters that have nothing to do with the plot or the story, or whatever else may come to my mind. I basically go with the flow and just wing everything; but I'm open to suggestions! All I ask is to tell me what I do wrong, if there are any typos, please point them out to me – no matter how small they are. Oh! I also will split my story into Acts, Chapters, and occasionally subchapters…why? I'm different, that's why. Don't forget my little XxXxX thingies that designate a new scene, and the borrowed & modified version of Halo: First Strike's Place and Time thingy.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Halo series…if I did, then I would be using their ideas to colonize other planets already and we would be fighting a whole s**t load of aliens.**

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**XxFirst_EncountersxX**  
"_You better not shoot me,"_  
_"Day're all over us!"_

**_1222 Hours, September 30th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/_**  
**_Uh-144 Falcon, Somewhere over the Amazon Rainforest, Earth_**

High above ground, helicopter blades could be heard resounding in the forest with their constant whirring sound. A small squad of ODSTs was discussing their assignment while flying over a dense forest. The machine they were in was a UH-144 Falcon.

"So dere's supposed to be a group of Covies somewhere down dere?" asked one of the ODSTs with a thick southern accent. He had a picture of a boar's head on the shoulder pad of his Battle Dress Uniform.

"Yes, we should be coming upon a score of Covenant soon, Private Richard," said the leader of the group; he had the highest ranking insignia on his armor, Warrant Officer Grade 3.

"You sure…" asked Private Richard again.

"Stop being a dick, Dick," spoke up a woman with a stern voice. She had a Sergeant Grade 2 insignia on her armor, and she had her visor down, revealing a sun-blessed face and piercing black eyes.

"Sgt. Alice, that was uncalled for," said the Warrant Officer with a bored tone in his voice as if this was an everyday occurrence. As Sgt. Alice and Private Richard started bickering, the officer turned his attention to the fourth ODST who hasn't spoken up yet. "How 'bout you Rookie, got anything to comment about?"

Instead of saying anything, the Rookie shook his head and proceeded to stare out the open part of the Falcon, looking at the endless forestry.

"Figueroa, help me out here. I'm trying to make you feel more welcome," said the Officer.

"No need sir, we have our quarry," replied Figueroa looking out at an encampment of Covenant in a large clearing. The Officer stared at where Figueroa was looking at and swore to himself.

"Richard, Figueroa! On the turrets now!" ordered the Officer. "Alice, maneuver the Falcon over the encampment and away from those Shade Turrets!"

The Covenant group noticed the ODSTs and started firing their assortment of plasma and other kinds of weapons. There were at least thirty Covenant in all; consisting of every species. There was an engineer supplying the stronger Covies with over shields. Two Grunts in Shade Turrets were firing at the Falcon as Sgt. Alice tried to strafe out of their way. Figueroa was able to kill three jackals and a Brute from so far away, but the ammunition had little effect when Sgt. Alice flew them too far out of reach.

"Get me closer!" demanded Figueroa.

"Lazarus, are you fucking insane?" yelled back Alice.

"If you wanted me dead before, this should be a pretty easy decision for you. After all, it is the perfect opportunity to get rid of me," said Lazarus coolly. Alice remained silent for a moment while she contemplated lowering the Falcon. She decided yes, this is the best opportunity to get rid of him. Roughly lowering the Falcon as she fired a missile at one of the Hunters, the Lekgolos flew back a bit without dying from the explosion. Private Richard only killed two Grunts so far, as he was basically spraying the area.

"You better not shoot me," said Lazarus after he let go of the turret and quickly grabbed his SRS-99 Sniper Rifle, a combat knife and a M6G Magnum. He jumped out of the Falcon before the unnamed Warrant Officer could protest. Landing in the dirt, Lazarus quickly rolled to absorb the fall. One of the Jiralhanae tried to charge at him so he picked up his fallen M6G and started firing at the hairy Sasquatch's head. The Brute never stopped running towards him and tried to slash Lazarus with the back of its Bruteshot. The wicked, curved blade missed Lazarus, so he decided to follow the leader and use his own blade weapon. The recruit took out his combat knife while rolling underneath the Brute's legs, then coming out of the roll he stabbed his knife through the bastard's left knee. The Brute roared in pain and tried to fire the Bruteshot at close range, but our Rookie reacted quickly and stuck his knife through the Brute's arm and redirected the shot. The grenade launcher then fired at a Hunter's back, killing it instantly as its body was hit and then flew forward from the blast. Lazarus then proceeded to wrench the knife out of the Brute's arm, sending a spray of extraterrestrial blood onto the floor. He proceeded to stab the back of the Brute's other knee, which finally caused the beast to fall down, holding its useless arm in agony and unable to move from its position on the floor. Lazarus got up, and what seemed a quick walk over to the Brute, took him only a couple seconds – they were the longest two seconds for that Brute's life. When our Rookie reached the alien's head, he stuck his magnum barrel into its mouth.

"Demon!" roared the Brute defiantly as Lazarus pulled the trigger, blowing the brains out of the monster's skull. Most of the blood fell onto the floor, some onto Lazarus Figueroa's hands, the rest onto his helmet's visor. He wiped it off as he snuck into the woods.

"Dat Bastard deserded us!" yelled Richard trying to kill some more Grunts, but he only succeeded in scattering them into cover. Alice gave a humph while the Warrant Officer just replaced Lazarus on the turret. The Officer saw the gruesome display that the Rookie put on – he cringed, just thinking about it. The Falcon continued to fire at the small targets below when suddenly three Banshees came flying towards them. The alien vehicles started firing repeated plasma cannons at the ODSTs in the air. Down below, Lazarus made his way around the forest; he kept firing at the Covenant straight in between the eyes with his Sniper Rifle. As he neared closer to one Grunt, Lazarus killed 8more enemies already. As he neared closer to the encampment, there was a Grunt that was looking for something, or someone – most likely him. Sneaking up behind the Grunt, Lazarus snapped the midget's neck and it released a satisfying cracking noise as the creature crumpled. Lazarus noticed his team's struggle above with the Banshee, so he quickly grabbed the Grunt's plasma grenades and ran out to the encampment clearing.

"Day're all over us!" yelled private Richard as he tried to fire at the Banshees that were doing extravagant flips and dodging his turret's bullets.

"It's only three Banshees, Dick! You just can't aim!" spat back Sgt. Alice, trying to steer away from a homing fuel rod blast.

"Work on taking down those fliers, you can flirt later on," said the Warrant Officer, trying to destroy the nearest Banshee.

"Sorry, Draco," said Richard, finally giving a name for the Officer.

"Don't - use - my - name - Dick!" screamed Draco, getting so angry that he managed to take down one of the Banshees. Richard was only able to batter one up pretty badly with his turret while Alice tried her best to give the two a good shot and stay away from enemy fire. She tried to get a lock on with one of her missiles, but the plasma armed Covenant vehicles were too swift and kept getting out of the red n' ready symbol. Each time she would get a lock-on and the symbolic beeps would start playing, her target would move out of the way. The enemies down below were focusing on finding the runaway ODST that was killing their soldiers left and right. The rookie kept out of their line of sight by nimbly running from cover to cover.

Lazarus came up behind a jackal who was on some high ground and behind a defensive barrier of a plasma shield. He wrung its frail neck quickly and then stole the Jackal's shield gauntlet and he ran to the steep, downward slope, 100 meters in front of him. The Brutes started firing Spiker weapons at him , but they got stuck in his newly acquired shield as he countered with a Frag Grenade that got sent between two Brutes. The ensuing explosion killed them both as the fragments of the grenade pierced skin, broke bones and got imbedded into internal organs.

**_Time for the final assessment of the battlefield_**: _There now were 2 Brutes, 3 Jackals, 4 Grunts, 1 Hunter and still that 1 Engineer according to Figueroa's VISR Heads up Display. The remaining Brutes and Grunts were protected with Overshields, while the Jackals were on high ground away from the Engineer's influence. The lone Hunter was too far away and was firing its arm cannon at Figueroa, angry that its companion died. The Hunter was the most vulnerable at the moment, since it was close to explosive Plasma Crates. The Engineer could be taken out easier after killing the 2 Grunts on Shade Turrets and sniping back the rest of the Jackals could be easily done. The rest of the enemies could then be dealt with up close and personal._

That is what Lazarus saw all in the span of a second. He sees tables, charts and statistics where others only see a group of people or enemies. It wasn't the advanced technology on his head doing this; it was himself and his own ability to analyze a situation inhumanly fast. Lazarus was no robot – and he would take great offence to that allegation – he was just someone with special augmentations complementing an unchallenged ability.

Back to the battle, Recruit Figueroa started his step-by-step precision actions; he fired at the plasma crates next to the Hunter. The expelling energy from the concentrated blast killed the Hunter and sent its dead body flying, while Lazarus picked off a couple Jackals trying to shoot at him with their Covenant Carbines. He ran up on of the perches of the newly dead Jackals and avoided enemy fire as he did so. Looking at the trouble the Banshees were still giving his teammates, he chucked the Plasma Grenade he picked up earlier a low flying one as it passed by him. The grenade stuck to the vehicle's hull and exploded, sending it careening towards a screaming, shielded Grunt. The Grunt's life was ended with a sickening splat as the Banshee crashed. In the meantime, Lazarus picked up a fallen Jackal shield and ran towards the steep slope leading downwards to the rest of the enemies. Placing the shield under him like a skateboard, Lazarus left out four shots with his Sniper Rifle, killing the last Jackal and taking two shots to kill a shielded Grunt and take down the shields of another. At the bottom of the hill when Lazarus leaped off his makeshift board, he rapidly switched to his M6G Magnum and finished off the Grunt with a headshot, then finally rolling as he landed. He reloaded as he went into some cover and before he could even take a resting stop, a fuel rod blast nearly hit him where he stood. He took a few seconds out of the line of site from the attacker, before a gravity Hammer obliterated the boulder he was barricaded by, sending him flying a couple meters back.

When Lazarus fell on the ground, he quickly sprung himself up and tried shooting the Brute in the Head with his Magnum. The bullets only made it angrier – but that's what Figueroa wanted, because their armor is too thick to penetrate completely. Charging with its Hammer again, the Brute held it mightily over his head before he swung it down. On the Hammer's path downward, the Rookie evaded the shockwave by going into a somersault away from the beast and its weapon. When he got out of the roll, he sprinted across to the other Grunt in a Shade Turret and stuck one of its own Plasma Grenade on the creature's face. The turret was too slow to turn around in time for the Grunt to fire at him, which means the Grunt's head blew completely off in the blue light show, courtesy of the grenade. The ODSTs up above finally destroyed the last Banshee while Lazarus tried to destroy the Engineer with his Sniper. The poor creature made protesting noise as if it was scared as its own shield went down. One shot to it small head made it die and then explode with the bomb on its back. Now that the last two Brutes had no overshields, Lazarus could freely attack them.

He started off by shooting the one with the Fuel rod Gun instead of the Hammer. One shot with the SRS-99 to the head blew off its helmet; the next one through its left eye completely killing it. Little did he know that the Brute with the Hammer was right behind him and kicked him 5 meters away. The Chieftain was back for revenge as it brought its Gravity Hammer over his head again, aiming for the new recruit.

Up in the Falcon, the ODST's were looking at the close combat battle between the two down below with anxiety. The Brute wrenched the Sniper Rifle from Figueroa's hands before he could use it again, and then smashed the weapon down; breaking it.

"I won'd be able doo ged a shod ad 'im. Laz iz in da way!" yelled Private Richard. His phonic always got worse the longer the battle he was in; obviously, he wouldn't be a good communicator, but his teammates luckily understood him.

"None of us can take down that thing with them that close!" yelled Officer Draco. Down on the ground, it looked as if Lazarus couldn't make a dent with his Magnum at the large, overbearing beast. Then he blew off its headgear at close range making the Brute stagger back. Alice took her chance and got in low as the two brawlers below were temporarily apart.

"I got a shot!" she said giddily as she unclipped the cover for the missile button. Getting just the right path of trajectory, as the Brute started to roar, she pressed the red button with her thumb and two missiles flew directly towards it.

Lazarus looked up at the Chieftain not a few meters away; his Magnum was out of ammo and it was time to just rely on his combat knife again, but that was okay. He threw his gun away and the Brute made a wicked grin as it advanced slowly, fully focused on the prey in front of him. That's when Lazarus saw an odd gleam on the back blade of the Gravity Hammer. He heard the whizzing noise before he saw what caused it. Lazarus quickly tried to cover himself from the missile blast, turning to his right. The explosion rung in his ears as he saw the look of surprise on the Brute's face as it was killed by the missile, and as it caused Lazarus to fly back ten meters away, twisting in midair. Lazarus landed on a boulder with his already battered left side, falling down head first onto another large stone, cracking his skull as everything in his world went black.

* * *

Quote of the Chapter: "It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it" – Robert E. Lee

* * *

I'm adopting this fun little addition from The Element commander. Sometimes I will have serious questions, sometimes I will not and sometimes I will ask a few questions…like this chapter. Basically, just make a funny answer to the questions and whichever I like will get featured every ten chapters in a little table or something like that...duh.

**Chapter 1 Question:  
****1. How aboud dem applez?  
****2. Suggestions anyone?**

**XxXxX**

This is an idea I'm adopting from Burenda who is a great fan fiction writer of several different…uh, whatchamacallits (Real Word)…Fanbases? It's just to try and get some more popularity for them if I think their stories are awesome. They are most likely not going to have anything to do with Halo though…so if you just like Halo, eat breakfast with a Master Chief Doll, and/or have Xbox 360 wallpapers all about Halo…well, you may just want to stick to that series.

**Story Advertisement:**

**Wish For The Past: by Burenda**

A misspoken wish lands Goten in the past, traveling alongside Bardock, the grandfather he never knew. Concerned for his friend's safety, Trunks soon joins him, and together they travel from Vegeta-sei to Earth, trying to find a way back home. -Complete-

_Personal opinion:_ This story had some great fighting scenes and Goten and Trunks are hilarious. Bardock is awesome, Chibi-Vegeta is awesome, the story's awesome, Burenda is awesome - nuff said. Not to mention how well this story is written, which I really appreciate to see when I want to read some good fanfiction.

**_My Final Pleas_**: PLEASE REVIEW! I need the criticism (Bad or Good) but please just keep it constructive and no flaming _please!_ I appreciate the help because nobody's perfect – especially not me – and there is no other way to get people happy unless I _know _they are. Now, I am going to _stop _stressing my words and finish here.

**_Chapter 1 Mission accomplished, join the call to arms next time. HOORAH!_**


	2. Ch 2: Ten Moments of Disturbance

**Act I: A Warm Welcome  
****Chapter 2: Ten Moments of Disturbance**

**Intro:** Not seeing any reviews...I'll start posting anyways. The only new thing this time is some italics expressing Figueroa's thoughts. So I am just going to give a little…

**Disclaymore: I don't owns dem Halos, nor do I have one over me noggins. If I diddits, then I would not bes an unedumacated individeevul making fun O' noone.**

* * *

Lazarus looked up at the Chieftain not a few meters away; his Magnum was out of ammo and it was time to just rely on his combat knife again, but that was okay. He threw his gun away and the Brute made a wicked grin as it advanced slowly, fully focused on the prey in front of him. That's when Lazarus saw an odd gleam on the back blade of the Gravity Hammer. He heard the whizzing noise before he saw what caused it. Lazarus quickly tried to cover himself from the missile blast, turning to his right. The explosion rung in his ears as he saw the look of surprise on the Brute's face as it was killed by the missile, and as it caused Lazarus to fly back ten meters away, twisting in midair. Lazarus landed on a boulder with his already battered left side, falling down head first onto another large stone, cracking his skull as everything in his world went black.

* * *

**XxSticks_and_StonesxX  
**"_Off to the RC now, right?"  
"What are you doing?"_

_**2200 Hours, September 30th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/**_  
_**ODP Medical Station, Orbiting Earth**_

"How is he faring?" asked a distorted voice.

"Recovering smoothly…ribs, skull and other bones have been fixed and the concussion is gone. He lost quite a bit of blood from the surgery, but…he seems to be fine," replied another. The voices both sounded so far away to Lazarus. He tried to open his eyes but when they met the bright light of the room, he shut them back tight quickly and groaned in displeasure.

"He's awake!" exclaimed the 1st voice a little too giddily. It sounded womanly, and eerily familiar to Figueroa.

"It seems so," said the 2nd voice much more clearly "I'll leave you alone with him for a while, Captain," _the 2__nd__ voice is definitely male and also seems to be familiar. However, the woman – Captain did he say? Oh great…her…_thought Lazarus.

"Thank you Dr. Madrigal," said the Captain. _Ah, of course that one is going to look after me. _The doctor bowed and headed for the door out the room.

"So, you fully awake yet?" asked the Captain.

"Turn off the lights and I'll tell you," said Lazarus slyly.

"I already told you to stop flirting with me…Corporal," said the Captain grinning. Through squinted eyes, Lazarus could make out the blonde that carried such a pretty face. _Her eyes are sparkling?_

"The light's in my eyes, what are you thinking in that head of yours, _Captain_?" replied Lazarus. The Captain rolled her eyes and the nice tone in her voice disappeared without a trace.

"Did you not hear me Corporal Figueroa?" she asked impatiently. The stern dominating voie was the one Lazarus heard.

"Yes Captain Dare, I hear you loud and clear. Corporal, huh? What happened to Private? I believe you have to go through the ranks in order, no?" asked Figueroa, opening his eyes fully despite the light still not turned off so he could give the Captain his full attention.

"Thanks to me, your on a fast-track promotion system – luckily it's reinforced through your indespensible proven skill in the field. Warrant Officer Draco also told me how this," Dare said pointing to figueroa's left side "happened," Lazarus tried to look down at his bandaged side but it was badly bruised and hurt terribly.

"I remember," noted the Corporal, looking back up at the ceiling.

"If it makes you feel any better, we can demote her," proposed Dare.

"Not worth it,"

"Are you sure? She said she was terribly sorry, but with your record, I doubt she meant it. At least 10% of all military casualties,"

"First of all, that number seems too low. Secondly, _why _would you promote me with my past record?" asked Lazarus suspiciously. The Captain looked at the wall thoughtfully for a moment before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in.

"I trust _its_ decision. Anyways, your life never seemed to be easy before…despite what you ended up doing. I just believe you should get a chance, Figueroa," replied the blonde, without opening her eyes.

"…but do _you_ trust me, Captain Dare?" asked Lazarus as she opened her eyes to look at him.

"I trust you to follow orders like a good soldier," Dare replied, turning to leave "By the way, Alice left you some flowers," then the Captain left as the Corporal turned to his left and saw a basket of assorted flora on a stand. He sneaked a glance at the swaying hips of the Captain as she left though. _Your hips lie to my face…humph, _thought Lazarus as he scooted to the edge of the bed to get a closer look at the flowers. When he saw a blue one in particular, erect in the middle, he picked it up. _A Forget-Me-Not. I have never seen one of those in person. She must've gotten some of these while still on surface. _The Corporal - remembering old tales of an ancient society - took off the top part of the flower and stuffed it into a pocket of his nearby ODST uniform. Doctor Madrigal came in to see Lazarus right as he stuffed the Forget-Me-Not away, giving the soldier a solemn look while another man in a completely white Navy dress came in behind the doctor.

"Our good Doctor says you'll be up and running like normal tomorrow after a nigh in the regeneration chamber," announced the man in white.

"Is that so?" replied Figueroa coolly. _This man is definitely one of the 'big heads.' Might as well have some fun. _The uniformed man stood silent as if he was listening to Figueroa's thoughts, detecting the slight disrespect from the Corporal. The good Doctor trembled as he waited, but then the uniformed man chuckled.

"Yes, your ass will be out in the field. But you're gonna have to deal with some pain," said the man in white uniform.

"I live for it,"

"Good, we don't take pussies. You also did a fine job on your first mission…for a criminal," that did not dwell well with Lazarus as he saw the higher officer turn to leave, just like Captain Dare just a couple minutes ago. The Corporal shot up into a standing position despite the pain in his left side.

"Any day, sir," he said calmly, nevertheless. The "sir" walked away laughing at the not-so-hidden unmannerly way he was treated, while Dr. Madrigal was trying to keep from shaking in horror.

"You can't speak to - to h-him like that!" exclaimed the Doctor when the uniformed man was out of earshot. Lazarus got back onto the bed and laid back down grinning to himself with his eyes closed, letting the pain fade to a small section in his side.

"Everyone in authority needs to know how to handle a situation like that. A cool head makes a great leader, and I would say he handled it quite…_Admirably _by my standards," said Lazarus, with purpose.

"Your insane to be testing a higher officer at all Corporal Figueroa! I'm the only Medic on this ship willing to even treat you privately,"

"I only follow orders Dr. Madrigal,"

"Then I order you to behave!"

" - From higher officers," psyched Figueroa, staring at the exasperated Doctor. Madrigal rolled his eyes and went behind the ODST's mobile bed.

"Off to the RC now, right?" asked Lazarus as Madrigal started pushing the bed forward out the door.

"Precisely, Corporal," replied the Doctor, making a right as pushed the bed out the door.

"Good to hear," Lazarus closed his eyes and relaxed some more "You're not afraid of me, are you Doctor?" Madrigal started choking on the air, coughing and sputtering into the elbow of his own scrubs. When the Doctor composed himself, he stood still and silent for several long moments while Lazarus waited patiently, knowing that the former was twitching madly. "Are you?"

"I don't know what to expect from you Mr. Figueroa…I just hope you make the right choices in everything that you do from now on," replied Madrigal abruptly as he resumed pushing the mobile bed. _Seems like no one can give me a straight answer here. Fine then, I might as well not fan the flames about my past anymore, _thought Lazarus.

"That's a good answer," replied Lazarus, smiling. They reached the Regeneration Chamber's room and Dr. Madrigal helped transfer Figueroa into the chamber with 3 other doctors. As the closed the door to the room, Dr. Madrigal looked at Lazarus one more time, privately after the 3 other doctors left.

"Good night Corporal," said the Doctor, before he too left the Corporal in the Regeneration Chamber to heal. The refreshing effects of the Regeneration Chamber came over him and revitalized his systems one cell at a time. Sighing peacefully one more time, Lazarus drifted off to sleep.

XxSnow DayxX

_**2334 Hours, September 12th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/**_  
_**Somewhere in the Arctic Circle, Earth**_

There was a bridge running across a large frozen lake, connecting two different parts of a valley. It was winter time, with snow falling down on the already 3 feet of snowfall on the ground. All the trees were bare in this frozen wasteland no matter if they were coniferous, evergreens or otherwise. Currently on the bridge there was a heavily armored UNSC vehicle flanked by two M12 FAV Warthog jeeps with mounted with Vulcan Machine Guns, with a large Snowplow leading its way and moving the snow out of the way. The armored vehicle known as the M312 Heavy Recovery Vehicle "Elephant" advanced at a slow pace down the bridge, with occupants that have been awake for over twenty four, grueling hours. The UNSC Marines were escorting a high profile civilian woman who was a Defense scientist working at the Office of Naval Intelligence building. This woman - Dexter Dealey Daine thanks to a neglectful and hateful father - specialized in shields both for personnel and ships, smart A.I.'s, and safety measures of all kinds. She had an extensive amount of knowledge of Forerunner & Covenant technology concerning the shielding they used: Hardlight and Plasma Shields respectively. Her greatest achievement thought was making an Artificial Intelligence similar The Catherine Halsey's Cortana, except laced with actual cell particles that resided within the A.I.'s bioelectrical holochip. Before she was being evacuated from her previous residence after some death threats from Insurrectionists, Daine was working on a piece of technology that would replicate the Hardlight Shield, in the form of a cheap Riot Shield for Marines and Police forces that would render most low class weapons useless - which the rebels usually had. That's why she was scared: Dexter received a warning package the other day, killing her assistant. She was on the run now to a protected facility in Antarctica, where it was winter…but halfway across the bridge, the Elephant's engines stopped working.

"What the hell?" shuddered Dexter as she backed up against the inside wall of the Elephant. Her long brown hair neatly fell onto the front of her shoulder and covered her left eye.

"Don't worry mam, we're just going so slow that the engine froze up," said one Marine chuckling.

"We'll get it online right away Ms. Daine," said another as they went to the part of the Elephant with the engine.

"They forgot the fact they have to open up the big girl before they fix her up," muttered an ODST as he went and started opening up the vehicle.

"No!" cried Daine as she sunk to the floor, holding her knees to her chest while sobbing into them. The ODST took off his helmet and rolled his bloodshot eyes as he walked over to the scientist.

"Don't fret Ms. Daine," said the Shock Trooper, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder. The cold wind started to reach her and she began to shiver. "It'll only take a few minutes," The scientist looked up slowly after the soldier removed his hand and walked away. The snow reached the inside of the Elephant, falling onto Dexter's hair and hands. She caught a handful of the white precipitation in her hands and looked up at the clouded sky.

Perhaps she knew those were her last moments; watching the snow fall down in the middle of nowhere. The interior of the Elephant was now fully exposed. Daine let go one more tear as she closed her eyes for the last time as she was shot in the head by a Hard Sound Rifle. Her brain was completely demolish, killing her instantly. None of the damage was visible externally, but she slumped forward onto her knees, with the soldiers around her not knowing what happened yet. Her mouth hung in a position as if she was about to speak or at whisper something out. 2,000 feet from her location the assassin was already escaping; hidden in the snow with matching camouflage, the figure of Lazarus Figueroa ran away towards a cave. It would take a couple more minutes after the Marines got the engine back running to notice that the scientist was assassinated. By then, Figueroa was already gone.

XxVoicesxX

The Dream moved onto a pitch-black setting with different voices of the past resounding in the dark.

"You're a soldier now!"

"I'll kill you in five seconds,"

"No dilly-dallying,"

"_Kill that Pig!"_

"I used to think better of-"

"You're definitely not normal,"

"You're back!"

"FUCK!"

"Well, hello there,"

"Please don't…"

XxThe_First_FitxX

Figueroa was spasmodically shaking in a seizure fit during his sleep in the Regeneration Chamber. Several doctors were trying to restrain the ODST so he wouldn't hurt himself or destroy the machine. The group of them could bare hold him together and were frightened for their own well-being.

XxA_Test_of_CharacterxX

A table appeared in front of Lazarus. He was in civilian clothes looking up from his seat at a shadowy figure. The smile of the figure was noticeable as Lazarus scowled at it.

"It's time to prove that you can really take orders without question, Figueroa. You shall show your loyalty to the survival of Earth and her colonies, but most importantly; you will follow the orders of the UNSC and especially ONI," said the person in front of Figueroa "Understood?"

"Of course," replied Figueroa calmly.

"Time for your first test of undying loyalty then," announced the figure "You shall speak of this to no one,"

XxIndecent_RunawayxX

_**0007 Hours, August 1st, 2552 (Military Calendar)/**_  
_**ODP Medical Station, Orbiting Earth**_

"Wake up already, damn it!" yelled Dr. Madrigal's voice. Someone was shaking Figueroa vigorously until he stopped spasming and screaming in his dream. The Corporal sat up suddenly and punched a random doctor in the face as he got up. The unsuspecting doctor staggered back into a table of surgical instruments. Luckily, he did not hurt and only his scrubs were ruined with several rips and tears. Lazarus wrenched off all the monitor wires attached to him and even took out the IV line giving him blood. The doctors again tried to restrain him after they regained composure, but Figueroa pushed them back and jumped out of the Regeneration Chamber as if he was never hit by the splash effect of a missile. Dodging a sleep inducing dart from a Narq pistol, Figueroa grabbed a fallen scalpel and threw it at the shooting doctor with deadly accuracy…hitting the gun out of the doctor's hands.

"What the-" started Dr. Madrigal as Figueroa started running out into the halls with only a towel wrapped tightly around his waist "FIGUEROAAAA!" As the man who was yelled at was running down the halls of the ship he encountered two marines armed with Narq-dart Pistols like the previous doctor did.

"Freeze soldier!" ordered the Marine on the left. Figueroa snorted his response, noticing how visibly the two were shaking. When he saw that one of them was about to fire, Figueora went into a slide like a pro-baseball player as the darts passed over where his upper body was previously. Before the Marines could gather their own senses, the Corporal tripped them both which caused them to drop their weapons. Lazarus continued to run down the halls after getting up and grabbing both of the Marines' pistols. He continued to hear the emergency sirens except this time he heard a voice come out on the intercom finally.

"Soldiers! Everyone search and restrain a rouge unit! Subject is running through the halls shirtless and…in a white towel," said a woman over the COM, barely believing her own words. Lazarus then saw a soldier in dark shaded armor, arms crossd and flanked by two ODSTs. The Corporal grinned as he came to a stop ten feet away from them.

"What are you doing?" asked the armored soldier in the middle. _Her _Recon variant helmet seemed to be making a glare at Lazarus.

"Getting my gear," stated Lazarus simply, getting into a casual stance with his thumb hooked into the towel.

"And you have to make an uproar to get it?" questioned Dare.

"Maybe I'm just that self-conscious," japed Lazarus. The Captain put her hands on her hips in annoyance.

"You seem to be quite halcyon about making a ruckus like this,"

"Must you use such big words, Captain? Anyways, I believe they are overreacting Miss Dare,"

"And I believe that you are _underreacting, _Corporal Figueroa. You can't go around doing things like this!"

Figueroa harrumphed at her exclamation "Is there a point you're getting to, Captain?" Captain Dare walked up to Lazarus and looked at him straight in the eye after taking off her helmet. Blond hair cascaded down her shoulders.

"You will behave on this ship," Figueroa's grin turned into a grimace "Do you understand?"

"Yes Captain," said Lazarus calmly.

"What do you understand!" demanded Dare, looking for a clear, precise answer.

"I understand that I will cause no further disruptions on _Say My Name,_ Captain Dare," he replied, and as he did, the Captain eyed him suspiciously.

"Your needed in the briefing room," she said with ennui. Her shoulders slumped as she stepped back.

"Good, I could use some," said Lazarus slyly, making Dare roll her eyes.

"Just move it," ordered Dare. She put her Recon helmet back on and turned on her COM "The lion has been tamed. Everyone back to their posts by order of Captain Dare," she walked away, only looking back once so she could shake her head at the half-naked ODST she left behind.

Lazarus sighed before he went to his quarters. Thankfully, no more UNSC or ONI members met him along the way. When he reached the small compartment called his "room" Lazarus picked out a white shirt and camouflaged cargo pants from his compartment of clothes under his cupboard like bed-in-a-wall. His "bed" was basically a mat and a pillow in a 7. foot compartment. After he put on his clothes and a pair of combat boots, Lazarus headed towards the briefing room. Walking down the halls, he thought about what really made him go ballistic: the dream. Pushing it out of his mind as quickly as it entered, Lazarus thought about what his next mission would include.

_I better get something more quiet…or maybe with less squad members. Those three were useless besides the fact they were a good distraction. Not to mention the idiot of a woman that almost blew me up…though it hardly matters enough to whine about it now, _thought Lazarus. Less than twenty four hours ago, Figueroa was hit by a friendly miss-fire, courtesy Sgt. Alice. The splash effect of the missile made him fly into a boulder, knocking him unconscious…yet he was perfectly fine now. That is just one of the many peculiarities of this ODST.

When he thought about the missile again, he grasped his left side as if there was a physical bruise still there that started hurting…but there was none.

_Phantom pain…__Useless psychological effects… _he spoke in his head. Shame he didn't use the terminology in the right context. Next thing Lazarus knew, he was standing at the entrance to the briefing room. He scanned a keycard that he brought along after dressing up. The blast doors slid open, revealing a group of people. Two of them were explaining mission directives and objectives to the other three. The "other three" were obviously ODSTs as they all had that extremely disciplined and fiery look in their eyes. They kept their hands behind their backs and had their legs separated at equal angles – epitome of a soldier…but that's rambling. One of the briefing officers saw Lazarus walk in and frowned. "You're late," said the briefer, she was a woman.

"Pardon me Major Aester, I wasn't decent at the time," replied the new Corporal. The woman shook her head at him.

"Never mind your skivvies Figueroa, you didn't miss much anyways," she stated, getting ready to speak to the others again as they eyed the newcomer suspiciously. However a brown haired man that was what Lazarus presumed was going to be his squad leader walked up to the Major.

"You want _him _on my squad?" asked the man exasperatedly.

"Yes, and you'll have to deal with him for today and tommorow," replied Aester. Then turning to Figueroa "Corporal…"

"He was enlisted just a few days ago!" exclaimed a fiery redhead ODST.

"You'll be led by Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck to check out some inconsistencies in radio wave patterns located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean," continued the Major, ignoring the other woman "You'll also be partnered up with Sergeant Red Dawson – the rude one – and Warrant Officer Chloe Magnuson," Red Dawson was a very physically toned woman who was still able to retain a feminine figure even at 6 ft. tall, with long black hair, and green eyes. (1.8288). Chloe was only 5 ft. 5 inches (1.6764 m) and was dwarfed in comparison to the others…_wonder what she did to get here… _She, ironically, was a redhead, but had brown eyes – eyes which looked away shyly after staring at Lazarus. _Two women…at least they're making this more interesting. _Lazarus nodded to the three soldiers, receiving a guarded recognition from Dawson, a glance from Magnuson and an outburst from Buck.

"How can you trust this guy? How's this mission even in his vector?" demanded Buck.

"Corporal Figueroa has extensive experience in stealth and espionage operations…This particular mission will require absolute secrecy and he _will _be an asset to your team, and you _will_ take his advice. You will do anything and everything to reach your objective, and that includes _El Diablo _on your squad. Is that understood, Sergeant Buck?" explained the unnamed officer. He seemed to be suppressing a smirk – one that only belongs to an ONI agent. With more observation, one could see the upper tip of the ONI's symbol tattooed on his skin, hidden by most of the "spook's" neck collar.

"What does this have to do with radio waves?" asked Red through gritted teeth, not lettting Buck reply.

"It seems that those 'stragglers' Figueroa fought yesterday had friends…which means the Covenant know Earth's location. We expect an attack any day now," stated Major Aester.

* * *

"The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as can, and keep moving on." - Ulysses S. Grant

* * *

**Chapter Questions  
**1. Will we see Sgt. Alice again?  
2. What do you think Lazarus is going to act like in front of these teammates?

**Story Advertisement:**

**We Are The Smashers: by The Element Commander**

The Smashers are gone, and Master Hand must transform certain humans to get them back! Tabuu has rising again, and for some reason, the Smashers have all vanished. With a daily dose of transforming children, the Smash Mansion might be filled to defeat evil.

_Personal opinion:_ This is a story full of hilarious characters, randomness and absolute mayhem. I liked this story, but personally I find its darker sequel to be even better! If you are an SSB fan, and have a good sense of humor, then this story is for you.

_**My Final Pleas:**_ Wow that was a long chapter. Glad I don't have to write those things...oh wait, I do. Oh well, it gives me pleasure making these stories for people and myself. Maybe I secretly wish someone from 343 Industries is reading this and needs a new recruit in their forces. Well, I hope that wasn't painful to read but I hear alot of people complain about short chapters when they only come in once a week or something (I'm part of that group) so again, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review, just...do it for s**ts and giggles. :O


	3. Ch 3 They Came By Wave

**Act I: A Warm Welcome**

**Chapter 3: They Came By Wave**

**Author's Foreword:**

**Warning:** Remember my first chapter had a warning about possible lemons or maybe some Lemon flavoring in my case…? Well, it happened sooner than I thought but it was a great chance to develop _my_ character in _my _opinion. You'll see what I mean a little in this chapter, but more in the next.

**Disclaimer: No Halo characters were harmed in the making of this production. Well, in fact they are, but I'm not allowed to tell you that, because I don't happen to own any of them anyways. I do own my originals though…**

* * *

"What does this have to do with radio waves?" asked Red through gritted teeth.

"It seems that those 'stragglers' Figueroa fought yesterday had friends…which means the Covenant _know_ Earth's location…not just happened to pop in randomly. We expect an attack any day now," stated Major Aester.

**XxAlone_in_a_Crowded_RoomxX  
**"_El no puede hacer nada!"  
_"_I find that obvious,"_

**_1626 Hours, August 31st, 2552 (Military Calendar)/_**  
**_Pelican Dropship, Over the Atlantic Ocean, Earth_**

**MSSG: Received  
****Authenticate: Corporal Lazarus Figueroa**

**[Subject] Assignment: Sea Lion**

1. Welcome back to the fray, Figueroa. I hope you have experience being underwater, because you're going to get wet.

2. I have a few points to tell you on this mission; Give the other advice and make them swallow it! Also, after a certain point, there won't be much stealth so we packed you up plenty.

3. I found your performance yesterday to be remarkable – even for just an ODST. Not to forget your curiously speedy recovery rate even with the help of the RC. You're definitely the efficient soldier we're looking for, Corporal.

4. Oh…and don't get too excited with the women on your squad.

**Mission Summary:** Covenant forces detected within the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic Ocean. Strength Unknown. Origin Unknown. Proceed with caution.

**Objectives:**

01. Reach area by submarine  
02. Infiltrate the Citadel stationed there  
03. Sabotage their communication systems: HIGH PRIORITY  
04. Evac possible hostages  
05. Eliminate all their forces: HIGH PRIORITY  
06. Destroy the Citadel  
07. Eliminate all record of this mission: MANDATE

** Read More?**  
Satelite Images  
Geography  
Climate  
Covenant Species  
Possible Weak Points  
Strategies  
Ordnance

Cosmo Aester  
Major, USW  
STELLAR, Commanding Officer

Lazarus Figueroa scrolled through the rest of the documents of his current mission. Blurry satellite pictures showed what looked like a Covenant Citadel in the middle of the famous triangle. _Apparently, they knew more than they were letting on. _Lazarus kept looking at the digital display on his Heads-Up-Display until he found the Ordnance window. Clicking it, the Corporal raised his eyebrows at some of the weapons shown by his VISR: Two SRS99-S Sniper Rifles, Three M7S SMGs, One BR55 Battle Rifle, One MA37 Assault Rifle, One M45D Tactical Shotgun, Four M6G Magnums, One M392 DMR-S Designated Marksman Rifle, One M4SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher, One M319 GL-Grenade Launcher, One H-165 FOM-Target Locater, Sixteen M9 HE/DP Frag Grenades, Four Smoke Canisters, Two Satchel Charges, Ten Thermite-Carbon Cords, Four Signal Flares, and One Havok Mine to top it all off.

"Hot damn! Can you believe all the toys were getting? It feels like Christmas!" exclaimed Chloe, trying to lighten up the gloom in the Pelican's pressurized atmosphere. She must have started reading the Ordnance at the same time as our main character. She took her helmet off and was grinning, her light brown skin accented by her bright white smile. Figueroa stayed emotionless behind his helmet while Red and Buck could've been twins with the way their arms were crossed. The "twins" huffed, but Buck ended up uncrossing his arms and sighed.

"Yeah, and we're stuck with all the shitty relatives," he muttered, sending Red into a giggling fit. Chloe bit her lip to stop from laughing, knowing the joke was mostly directed at Lazarus…who she may or may not find attractive. Lazarus kept silent.

"Uhm, I don't think-" started Magnuson.

"Oh shut it, Chloe. It's just a joke," interrupted Red, standing up in the Pelican as the back ramp popped down. Buck and Lazarus got up as well, the dispirited woman following in suit, putting her helmet back on. "I don't know why they couldn't have just dropped us off at the site. Why do we need a sub?"

"Because this is a stealth operation. They would see us coming from kilometers away. Unless you want to swim a marathon and wear out your poor muscles before you get there," said Lazarus, jumping out the back of the Pelican before it got within 2 meters from the ground. The others copied him when the dropship lowered down a bit more, Red obviously flustered with her jerky movements.

"Welcome troopers, you're going to be riding ole Nikki here," greeted a Navy officer, walking up to the squad.

"Starships have better names…" muttered Chief Warrant Officer Magnuson.

"She's a nuclear sub, pretty big for her class and pretty roomy. She's not as comfy as your space boats I'm sure, so you'll all have to nut up for the ride," continued the old man, not hearing Chloe's statement, or ignoring it completely. He wore a crisp white uniform, with golden buttons and a white Captain's hat - no wrinkles in sight.

"Sir, I'm Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and I'm this squad's leader. We're glad to-" started Buck, getting in front of the other ODSTs.

"Enough, enough. I know your names as much as I know you're bullshitting me right now. I'm here to see who's entering my ship before they get inside," barked the officer.

"Sorry sir," said Buck, gazing down at the ground, suppressing his contempt.

"I also have a package to deliver to Corporal Figueroa. The rest of you may go and find your temporary quarters inside Nikki. When we're moving, it shouldn't take us any more than a couple o' hours before we get to the DZ,"

The three ODSTs walked ahead on the docks, without Figueroa, to enter Nikki the Sub so he could be alone with the Navy Officer. The older man's uniform suddenly didn't seem be as crisp as before, and it didn't fit the person wearing it. He stepped forward with his hands behind his back.

"Figueroa?" asked the officer, looking at the helmeted soldier in front of him.

"Yes sir?" replied Lazarus with a bored tone.

"I've been asked to present you with an A.I. to place into your helmet,"

"…An AI, sir?" Lazarus was bewildered enough that he forgot to be rude "If I remember correctly, only Spartans receive them to increase combat performance,"

"Precisely," said the officer "But this is a special request from HIGHCOM…they insist after your last encounter with the Covenant," _Oh, of course…now I see._

"Let me guess, they want to keep tabs on me?" Lazarus crossed his arms "That concussion must have made me forget whatever protocols I broke,"

"I know, I know…More than likely it's about your previous track record. I saw video record of your performance yesterday; you're pretty damn good,"

"I hear enough about my past everyday sir," replied Lazarus ignoring the flattery and clenching his fists "Quite frankly, it's getting me peeved. I'm here now, like you mentioned. So get over it, because I _know _that's why you really wanted to see me. You could have sent one of your lackeys to give me the AI. So where is it?"

"Here…" grumbled the officer while he passed over a Data Crystal Chip. He knew from the video-files not to piss this guy off. It seems the old Navy is not as tough as it used to be. Their missions are limited to dealing with rebellions and pirates. Lazarus placed the chip into his helmet and heard a spark of activity rise in it, and he could almost _feel _the AI's presence.

"Greetings Corporal Figueroa. I am a prototype Artificial Construct for ze Orbital Drop Shock Trooperz," spoke the AI with a slight French Accent. He popped up in a little screen on the top left corner of Figueroa's HUD. Lazarus shook his head in utter…what? Embarrassment? Exasperation? Ennui?

"He's based off a famous French fencer named Lucien Gaudin, a 20th century Olympic champion," explained the officer, smirking as he heard the AI speak.

"I'm sure he was picked precariously," said Figueroa, glaring behind his helmet.

"I am sensing high stress levelz on your Bio-monitor Corporal. Perhapz zome rest will be calming for ze nerves?" suggested Pierre. Lazarus sighed softly and nodded to the Navy officer before continuing on towards the submarine.

Pierre decided it was a good time to get associated with Lazarus by asking dozens of questions. The Corporal found this particular AI dull, and not as lively as the first one he met since he joined the UNSC, during one of his earlier "lone wolf" missions to suppress the Insurrectionists. Pierre just did not have the entertaining personality _she _had, and it was odd for Figueroa too: thinking of an AI as a person…_But they _are _artificial intelligences, and so they _are _people…because people are as artificial as much as they believe they are superior to everything. _Before Lazarus knew it, he was in his quarters lying on his bed. While the AI continued to drone on about different history lessons on sword-play and how the UNSC should input their own swords, like the Sangheili do, into conventional combat, the Corporal was thinking about taking a siesta. The talk about swords though actually kept Figueroa interested for a few more minutes before he took off his helmet and placed it onto a stable platform. Pierre switched to the outer speakers to keep lecturing of "different ways to parry with your child's knife," The last thing Figueroa could think about before he went to sleep was of how deep were they underwater?

XxThe_First_TimexX

"This is it Lazarus. You ready for your first kill?" asked a man in an eye burning floral suit. A young, 11 year old Lazarus nodded coldly and stared at the fettered, gagged and blindfolded man before him. He held a customized Python revolver at his right side, awaiting orders "This man here tried to steal from us and hurt our men. He deserves punishment…seeing you kill him will be enough, _mijo,_" Lazarus just continued to stare at the prisoner who was struggling against his chains futilely. The floral man put a large, furry palm on the young boy's left shoulder "You will shoot him between the eyes just like on the cardboard displays you play with, okay _mijo?_" The old man was always using that demeaning word, and he said it with an evil grin…although through the periphery of his vision, Lazarus noticed that the man's eyes betrayed his worry. This man was always secretly thinking Lazarus shouldn't be doing this kind of activity - that he shouldn't reach his full potential was what Lazarus understood from that. This only served to anger the young boy: that he was being held back, so he worked even harder every day to achieve his top performance. He was supposed to be the smartest, fastest, strongest…that's one of his ultimate dreams - in which nothing can get in the way.

Another person went behind the chained man and took off the blindfold and gag so he could see his executioner. At first there was fear in his eyes until he got a better look down at Lazarus - who was getting antsy. The fear dissipated quickly when he saw the boy.

"Un niño?" asked the prisoner, disbelieving. It seems he doesn't know English.

"This is not just any child, Roberto," said the floral man, letting go of Lazarus's shoulder.

"Ustedes son locos, Manuel!" exclaimed Roberto. "Este _niño_ no puede hacer nada!" now the prisoner was laughing in his binds, tears coming to his eyes, while the young boy was getting an annoyed expression. He raised his magnum in a steady military position like he was trained. Now Roberto gained back his fear as he looked into the eyes of the child. They were so cold and dark like an Arctic night that Roberto froze in shock. They looked so unfeeling, careless…indifferent to what he was about to do. His eyes were even ambitious and all of a sudden Roberto started screaming in Spanish about this devil child and his evil eyes, no less. "EL DIABLO!" he screeched, his last words before his brain matter splattered against the wall behind him from the bullet that penetrated his skull…between the eyes. The floral suited man winced but Lazarus didn't even flinch and just re-holstered his gun and looked at the mess before him. The others in the room looked like they were going to throw up, but the floral man waved them out.

"Good job, kiddo…I'll go get the clean-up crew," he said, walking out of the enclosed room. Lazarus walked up to the slumped, wrecked body of a human being and looked it over: Red and pink stains covered the whole thing as the head kept leaking blood and fluids. The young boy ripped off the man's shark tooth necklace and pocketed it for himself - A trophy for his first kill.

"Hmph," he said as he walked out to get some fresh air.

XxCola_and_SkullsxX

An even younger Lazarus stood outside of his guardian's estate, practicing his marksman skills. The Python magnum was large in his 8 year old hands as he started shooting soda cans from 80 meters away. Each thunder crack from the gun sent a bullet straight through each of 8 cans. Reloading, the boy planted his right foot on a lever. After his magnum was refit, he stomped on the lever 8 times, each step sending clay skulls careening far into the sky - but Lazarus didn't shoot yet. The realistic skulls paraded down the field and toward the ground, seemingly going to be undisturbed by anything but the ground…but when they reached 3 meters from it, and 70 meters away from Lazarus, he let out 7 gunshots. The first six bullets hit six skulls…the last one hit two and all of them shattered like fragmentation grenades. He saved the last bullet so he could fire at a bronze bell, indicating that his personal session was over. When the bullet struck the bell, it resounded loudly across the estate's many acres of land. Lazarus could see the old man watching him in his usual eye-burning attire through one of the 3rd floor windows, while he went to go inspect the soda cans. Those were always the most frustrating targets of all, and he worked very hard to try and perfect his shots every day. When he looked at the can, he saw that 3 of them had the bullets graze the inner circle of the big O on the cans…

Lazarus aimed his reloaded Python behind him and shot the silver bell, indicating that he restarted his session. His shots were not perfect - he was not perfect. He called the estate's AI to set up 72 more cans of soda and more ammunition. The young boy could not be lesser than his full potential - which he wanted to surpass anyway - so he got into position again. His marksman skills _could not_ be imperfect. Lazarus started to fire at the cans again.

XxTwenty_QuestionsxX

"Figueroa, we've looked at your documentation…" stated one woman in front Lazarus, who sat behind an interrogation table. She held a very thin classified file.

"And there's shit next to nothing on it," said a large black man in his Battle Dress Uniform as if he were on the field at that moment. "We want to know why!"

"Maybe your Intel staff is full of it," suggested Lazarus, shrugging his shoulders. He looked back to his current age, and his comment made the other man so furious that he slammed his hands on the table. Lazarus didn't budge.

"This isn't time for your bullshit, you goddamn beaner!" yelled the man. Lazarus narrowed his eyes at him, while the woman decided to take a calmer approach.

"We highly doubt the officers at Section I are insufficient…you are completely off every medical record, or almost any other kind of record for that matter. We don't even know when you were born. Without giving you the full physical and chemical examinations, we wouldn't have even known your blood type is B+. We need to know how this is possible. You must have tremendous resources to be able to achieve this. According to the ONI, you don't exist. How?" asked the woman. Lazarus lowered his gaze to meet hers as she was sitting down unlike the other man "Will you even tell us the truth?"

"I haven't a reason not to, Miss Keyes. Ask away," said Lazarus "But you may not like what you hear," Commander Miranda Keyes took a deep breath.

"When were you born?" she began asking.

"Don't know, the date was kept from me. They find birthdays to be a ridiculous concept," Miranda and the black man exchanged glances.

"Where did you live?"

"Somewhere in the Caribbean islands,"

"Which one?"

"I believe it was the Republic of Cuba,"

"So you're Hispanic?"

"I find that obvious,"

"It says in my report you also speak Spanish, German and Japanese. Why that combination of languages?"

"Sorpresa, Überraschung, Odoroki,"

"Okay…when did you start killing? From what we could gather, you've been an assassin for at least 2 years. We have reason to believe you killed at least 34 political leaders, UNSC & ONI officials in all." stated Keyes.

"Except you're not sure?" asked Lazarus.

"We only have messages…for most of them. They all say the same thing,"

"Apologies from the one who rises from Death, to make Death," spat the black man.

"We believe that leads to you now, but we've never been able to find you. We caught onto the biblical allusion, but the old Lazarus never killed anyone…" continued Keyes "So Section I started trying to look for any similar cases and they found the same inscription near 700 other assassination sites of Earth's leading drug lords, criminals and a few billionaires…several pairs of those people were killed on the same day. Where'd you get the resources to operate so quickly within the last couple of years?"

"Firstly, I am not a cheap man. The money I make supports me and my business very well. Second, men and women are seduced by money easily, not to mention my tongue is a precious metal. Lastly, my targets make themselves very easy to eliminate; only a few ever gave me a sweat," explained Figueroa, relaxing in his chair. Miranda Keyes shook her head in disbelief.

"Don't you feel any remorse for all those killing?" she asked.

"Were they innocent people?" retorted Lazarus.

"Well…"

"…Is a very deep subject for very shallow minds. I believe you answered your own question," Miranda Keyes clenched her fists now while Lazarus remained in his position.

"With all these ties to these…low-life shitheads, were you one of them? Part of some gang?" she demanded, raising her voice ""Tell us your story from there!"

"Ah, now you're asking the right questions. I shall tell you that I was part of _The Latin Kings_, and as to their low profile…they just became very good at keeping secrets for the last few hundred years. They were brooding in their caves with gold so-to-speak, waiting for the right moment to come back. Now, as to my story and affiliation with them…that is a subject matter as complicated as _The Latin Kings_ mysterious silences in the past few centuries. That's a story for another time," explained Lazarus.

"Fine then. You seem to be very well educated. I'm guessing you were home-schooled at wherever you lived?" asked the Commander.

"It was a very strict household," replied Lazarus.

"You received Spec Ops training at this place then?"

"I've exercised since I was five, shot my first gun at 7, rifle at 9, started explosive training at 11. Throughout those years I received extensive combat and firearms training as well as learning 20 different forms of close combat and martial arts. When I was 13 I started my ACG Tactical Driving course, as well as BFM Training and the BOAT Program; all of them modified for superiority in battle. Not to mention that I have also read extensively into UNSC and Covenant vehicle and weapon operating out of curiosity, but only ran simulations of them. And of course I kept up with regular collegiate studies," said Lazarus, smirking at the two in front of him who had open mouths. Keyes recomposed herself.

"When was your first kill? You still haven't answered that," said the Commander.

"I believe I was 11, or maybe 13. The dates get me mixed up as I was never really kept up with a calendar,"

"Who was it?"

"His first name was Roberto,"

"Last?"

"I didn't ask, but I kept his shark tooth necklace," replied Lazarus as he produced the said necklace out from behind his midnight blue shirt to show it to the two UNSC personnel. It still had bloodstains from that faithful day, which were visible up close when he tossed the necklace on the table.

"I should've stayed at Crow's Nest…" muttered Keyes, all of a sudden looking queasy.

"Is that one of ONI's secret bases?" asked Lazarus.

"How did you know that?" demanded Keyes, putting both her hands on the table and getting up. Lazarus looked at her slyly.

"You just told me," he said, curling the left side of his lips a fraction of an inch, He could've sworn the Commander became a deep shade of red. The other man looked mildly impressed.

"I don't know why that AI chose you, but if you do not follow UNSC protocol, then I will be forced to come down on you and rip your organs out from your throat! Understand?" heaved Keyes. Now it was Figueroa's turn to be impressed at the once calm Commander, turned aggressive. "You're a soldier now!"

"Yes mam, I understand clearly," replied Lazarus. This woman earned his respect. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"As I said…you're a soldier. I am letting you join the UNSC. You have no idea how many strings are being pulled in your favor, Private Figueroa," she said.

"I have the slightest of ideas, Commander Keyes,"

"Regardless," continued Miranda "I'm placing you under the jurisdiction of Captain Veronica Dare who will be on duty aboard the Marathon-class cruiser, _Say My Name_ soon. She's with the Office of Naval Intelligence, but she'll be interested in this pet project,"

"Of course Commander Keyes, just don't forget the rest of my requests," said Lazarus "Then you can call me your pet all you want,"

"Yes, of course," sad Keyes looking towards the floor "I heard about that trade-off,"

"He's going to be a whole new level of mother-fucker for those Helljumpers," said the other man.

"Let's get out of here, Sgt. Johnson. We have other matters to deal with right now," she said, nodding to the new Private as she tossed him a pin in the form a V, designating his rank. "Don't disappoint me, Figueroa," Lazarus accepted the pin and pocketed it with a mischievous smile, watching the other two leave him alone in the interrogation room. He grabbed his necklace back and put it on.

"This'll be fun," he said to the wall

XxThe_First_LustingxX

1732 Hours, August 31st, 2552 (Military Calendar)/

Crew Quarters # 43 in the Panama-Class Nuclear Submarine, _Nikki_

In the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantic Ocean, Earth

Corporal Figueroa awoke to his dark cabin room as he heard some ruffling inside. He closed his eyes and kept up the steady breathing as if he were asleep. _An assassin? They should've been smarter to keep their distance._ He gripped his combat knife under his pillow as he heard the person try to tiptoe over to his bed, but the breathing is shaky & heavy. This is not a professional…He listened closer to the breathing. _Yeah, her breath is too husky. I didn't expect _her_ to come try this._ He let go of his knife. The intruder was walking closer and Lazarus could hear her unbuckling the tough boots of ODSTs off her feet. Risking a peek, the man laying down opened his eyes a millimeter. He could see her chest heaving as she was struggling to take off her pants. She kept her top on and even in the near complete darkness, Lazarus could make out the almost delicious curves of her body's silhouette. Thinking he was still asleep, she fumbled for his belt and started shrugging off his pants. He felt a stirring wherever she touched.

"Good evening," whispered Lazarus and she jumped, about to head for the door but he pulled her back and clasped a hand over her mouth "I wasn't going to stop you,"

"I-" she started to say, but her voice was muffled.

"No reason to run away," spoke Lazarus softly as he kissed her nose playfully. She immediately relaxed a few notches as he took away his hands from her mouth.

"I'm so-" she started again, but Lazarus stopped her with a tender kiss – on the lips. He could felt the heat rush to her cheeks and also her nether regions which were parked on his thigh.

"Desire is an emotion that should be acted on to the fullest extent. Letting it fester can hurt you, and that's never a good thing. But we have to make this quick," spoke Lazarus into her ear quietly. She shivered when he placed a hand under her shirt, grasping the generous mounds hidden there.

"Ohh…" she breathed heavily, placing her head on his right shoulder.

"We'll only be able to take care of one of us right now thought," whispered Lazarus as he used his free hand to caress her abdomen, trailing it down to the honeypot waiting for him. She opened her eyes wide at his statement and shook her head in protest to the one-sided affair until she felt his hand tickle the outer lips of her walls.

"Ohh!" she breathed again as he inserted his middle digit into her and rubbed her nub softly with his thumb, making her jolt "Oh shit!" Lazarus smiled his most devilish smile and nibbled her lower lip while he went to town with his hands. He teased her blooming slit and breasts and she started to twitch as all the right places were rubbed, tweaked and touched. Her eyes had a hungry glare when she pounced onto Figueroa's mouth suddenly, forcing her tongue through so they could duel with each other for control. She kept moaning into his mouth as she grinded her pelvis onto his skillful fingers, and pushed her chest onto his other hand. The woman didn't come up for breath until two minutes later when Lazarus inserted two more willing fingers which made her squeal cutely. He hasn't seen anyone so needy in a while; it was almost sad to think about it. She was moving her hips so fast now, trying to match the speed of the fingers she gripped so tightly for dear life with her inner walls.

It was time for the finale: Lazarus gave one more lengthy kiss and scooted down the bunk, rolling her onto her back. She couldn't hold back the screams when his tongue dove into her.

"Ahh! Fu-fucking…ungh, ungh, uh, fucking…please! Please!" she begged before she bit down on her knuckles, trying to hold back down her moans of ecstasy. Lazarus lapped down the nectar that leaked out of her as she started to convulse with a mad fervor. _Here we go! _Lazarus bit onto the nub very softly with his lips – keeping a tight grip though. "FUCK!" she let out an animalistic growl as more of her juices came out and splashed Lazarus on the face…but she just kept on jerking around and wouldn't stop cumming "Fuck, fuck, fuck, f-f-fuck!" For the next 5 minutes she kept lifting her hips into his face and yelled his name over & over in the process, until her breathing was so uncontrolled that she blacked out. She had a smile on in her sleep, with her hair tousled all over the place, beads of sweat upon her brow from the exertion.

"Beautiful Performance…" spoke Lazarus, barely above a whisper. He fixed her hair up so it wasn't so tangled and grabbed a towel to clean her up. She soaked the bed where her nethers lay. _Where'd you hold all those fluids? It must have been a long time since your last one._ He wiped her down the best he could and remembered an important fact: Major Aester told him about not doing this sort of activity. Oh well, it wasn't his fault – at least not directly. He looked at the digital clock next to his bunk. 1814 Hours. They were at it for a little over half an hour and it was almost about the time they should arrive at their destination. Leaning next to her ear, Lazarus whispered "We're almost at the DZ. You might want to take a Caffeine pill or two before we leave," She pouted slightly.

"You need to do me with your prick next time…" she said in a sultry whisper "That was just…so…" she opened her eyes slowly and pulled Lazarus in for a deep kiss "Thank you, I understand now," Lazarus nodded and gave her another soft kiss.

"You know the rules though – no attachments. It would never work out," whispered Lazarus, caressing her cheek and staring into her green eyes "It will hurt you more than me," The woman's eyes became glossy with tears but she held them back.

"Can we at least…" she tried to say.

"Maybe," lied Lazarus, putting a finger on her lip to silence her. More than likely, they would never get the chance again – and like he said: no attachments. She had a glimmer of hope in her eyes at those words "Get dressed," He got his full Battle Dress Uniform on before she even got out of bed. When he went to clip on his knife he felt her hands curl around his stomach.

"Thanks again," she whispered, stopping on her tip toes to nibble his ear lobe. She's getting too close…I hate this process.

"You'll get over it," promised Lazarus as he gently got out of her grip and put his helmet on. He slid out the door before she could protest about his absence.

"Beautivul Pervormance? Really?" questioned Pierre as Lazarus powered on his helmet in the halls.


	4. Ch 4a: On The Get Go

**Act I: A Warm Welcome**

**Chapter 4a: On The Get Go**

**Intro: **Well…ok read. I think I'm getting better at this, but I have no clue.

**Disclaimer: **We _could _sit here all day about how I own Halo and all its property rights…but I don't.

* * *

"You'll get over it," promised Lazarus as he gently got out of her grip and put his helmet on. He slid out the door before she could protest about his absence.

"Beautivul Pervormance? Really?" questioned Pierre as Lazarus powered on his helmet in the halls.

* * *

**XxOverheardxX**

_**1832 Hours, August 31**__**st**__**, 2552 (Military Calendar)/  
**__**Aboard Panama-class Nuclear Submarine, **_**Nikki  
**_**~5km west of a Covenant Citadel, Bermuda Triangle, Earth**_

"Tis a beautiful sight, no?" sighed Pierre the French AI as he looked through Figueroa's optics which were trained on a thick glass window. The Corporal gazed at the underwater fish, wondering how their bodies could withstand so much psi, so deep in the ocean.

"That's one way of putting it," said Lazarus. _We should have been at our destination by now._

"Figueroa?" asked an unfamiliar voice behind him.

"Yes?" replied Lazarus as he turned around to face a woman. _Not another one._ She blushed furiously when he stared at her, but her voice was steady and official.

"We have arrived at your drop-off zone. You'll be leaving via a small stealth submarine," she said.

"All right then, do you mind if I have your name?" asked Figueroa "I don't want seem rude,"

"Lieutenant Jane Hazard," replied the woman "ONI Section II,"

"Sounds…dangerous," said the Corporal with a little bit of a growl. The Lieutenant allowed herself a small smile.

"It's what I live for Corporal. By the way, when you reach the surface there will be a request in your HUD for a secure channel. I wasn't given any information on what the topic would be about, but it the ensuing conversation should have some 'in-depth directives' that will deal with your mission. I was going to tell you earlier…" Lazarus raised an eyebrow she couldn't see "But you were busy,"

"Ah, yes. I know what you mean," the spook cleared her throat as the Corporal spoke "Nothing to be embarrassed about Lieutenant Hazard,"

"No, no," she said defensively as she started to walk away "Captain O' Reilly wants to see you at the deposit bay,"

"I'll go see him now. Have a nice evening Lieutenant, it was a pleasure meeting you,"

"Yea, it was…I-I mean you to," she mumbled, but turning to face the Corporal one last time she said "I've never been able to make a girl scream like that,"

"Sorry if we disturbed you,"

"On the contrary," she said grinning "I had a really good jilling to that," Lazarus had no words for that as she walked away again, hips swaying gracefully.

"You really do have a zilver tongue Corporal," spoke Pierre suddenly.

"And you seem to be very silent around others," said Lazarus.

"That command iz integrated into one of my communication protocols. Only a select group of individuals am I allowed to speak to,"

"Sound like a bummer,"

"A what? Hold on, searching slang vocabulary files…" a buzz of activity was evident in the ODST's helmet.

"Disregard that," said Lazarus heading towards the deposit bay – the AI didn't listen.

"Noun_Slang. _A person who bums. /_Origin_:1850–55, Americanism; probably German _Bummler, _derivative with _-er _-er1 of _bummeln _'to take a stroll, dawdle, loiter' (expressive v. of uncertain origin). What an odd choice of a word…"

"Well, at least I know what's in my head…" muttered Lazarus.

"Was that sarcasm I heard?" asked Pierre, offended. The Corporal mentally face-palmed.

"Sure, Pierre. Sure,"

"…Was _that _sarcasm?" repeated the French AI, now confused.

"You and I are going to have a falling out,"

**XxSoakedxX**

_**1845 Hours, August 31**__**st**__**, 2552 (Military Calendar)/  
**__**Aboard Panama-class Nuclear Submarine, **_**Nikki  
**_**~5km west of a Covenant Citadel, Bermuda Triangle, Earth**_

When Lazarus reached the bay, he found his three teammates standing at the ready with their helmets under their shoulders. They were swallowing thick tablets down.

"Corporal Figueroa!" called the old Captain O' Reilly. He tossed the soldier one of the tablets, who in turn caught it "That's a Denitrogenation Nano-Pill,"

"Nano?" asked Lazarus, staring at the 3cm³ thick pill in his hand.

"Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. You'll crap 'em out eventually. They're for simultaneously eating up the Nitrogen in your blood and creating pure Oxygen to breathe, in case you have to eject from the tiny gal - we're shooting you up fast," explained the Captain. Lazarus shrugged and put down his visor so he could dry swallow the DeN Pill. He went over to help the other ODSTs pack an already cramped mini-sub with their weapon-Loadout. He looked at the faces of his squad: all of them looked determined and focused. _Good, even if I'm not leading them, this mission should be done and over with soon enough._

"Oh, before I forget. I have some good news and bad news," mentioned the Captain. The squad exchanged glances behind the helmets they just put back on.

"Bad news first," said Buck.

"Well, it seem there's a supercell storm for miles around here and the triangle's phenomena or whatever is screwing with our signal even a klick below the water's surface,"

"Which means?" pressed Red Dawson.

"Which means that's the most probable reason the Covenant were able to slip through your ODP's and hide for a while. It also might make your COMs a bit shitty, causing your motion sensors to go erratic and your HUD to fizz out along with the biomonitors,"

"Jesus! So what's the good news?" asked Chloe, putting an arm on her forehead.

"The storm's screwing with the Covenant too from what we could gather, so they may have not even been able to tell their friends about where our home planet is. Plus, it will give you the double cover you need now since it's raining hard and it is as black as Sgt. Johnson's a-"

"Of course, o' course," grumbled O' Reilly as he pressed a few buttons on a wall. A hole opened up under the mini-sub and it hung still over the water. All the ODSTs stuck themselves in small spaces for their seat. Except for Lazarus, they all felt like they were back in a HEV pod again. The Captain waved them off and the mini-sub sunk into the water and powered up. Buck directed it away from Nikki and set it on auto-pilot. The tiny vehicle jerked as its small reactor spun to full power and sent the team floating upwards at a 45° angle going 30-knots.

"I'm glad I took those nausea pills too," mouthed Chloe, who was still turning a shade of green.

"You'll be fine. Just think about what's ahead of us," reassured Buck. The ODSTs waited as they continued their upward ascent. The noise of the stormy surface hit their ears before they got within 100 meters of it.

"That must be one hell of a storm," Red observed, giving a low whistle and shuffling to get comfortable in her cramped seat. When they broke to sea level, the storm grew exponentially louder when raindrops as large as bullets hit the Titanium-A hull of the mini-sub "Our weapons can work in this weather right?"

"…Yes," said Buck hesitantly.

"You hesitated," muttered Figueroa, pointing out the obvious.

"Fine! Yes they can work. Most of them are gas-operated anyways," Buck yelled back "Everyone turn on your night filters, we're about to hit some…semi-dry land. Then we're getting off. I better not hear any complaints about getting wet!" A medium sized island came to view in the sub's window as Figueroa turned on his VISR. Towards the middle was the signature outline of a Covenant Citadel. What was odd was the 7 extremely tall spires surrounding it on the island, each repurposed as fake lighthouses and sniper towers. The strong blue lights emanating from each spire scanned the landscape: It had several dense pockets of trees and rock formations for cover. Lazarus had an itch in the back of his mind as if he forgot something - and it wasn't the heavy rain falling onto his weather resistant armor as he jumped out of the mini-sub when it landed on a beach.

"This is going to be rough," muttered Magnuson, following Figueroa.

"No time for being a pessimist," said Buck as he came out as well, Red behind him "Everyone load up; heavy as you see fit. We'll be back for the rest later, but let's stay quiet for now,"

"Damn, I wanted the Rocket Launcher…"

"Corporal Figueroa and Sergeant Dawson?" called Buck, ignoring Chloe's complaint.

"Yessir?" they replied together.

"I want you two on high ground covering me & Magnuson,"

"Alright," replied Red getting her silenced SRS-99Sniper Rifle and tossing the other to Lazarus, who grabbed it out of the air and started passing out M7S SMGs and M6C-SOCOM Magnums while Buck got his MA37-Assault Rifle and Chloe got her BR-55 Battle Rifle. Everyone grabbed more of the equipment that was inside the sub and pocketed it. When all was said and done, the Gunnery Sergeant locked the small thing down, then turned on an experimental camouflage that made the sub disappear before their eyes. He then stopped for a moment.

"Any suggestions Figueroa?" asked Buck with a strained voice "I'm all ears," Lazarus looked around, and then towards the nearest repurposed spire.

"The only high ground here is on those spires. There should be a grav life inside the middle of each building. I'll scout ahead into one of them and get a better look at our situation - then I'll give you directions. Whatever you do, do not get caught in one place too long. The plasma fueled spotlights are following a pattern that reaches the same area every two minutes. Their predictability can be used to our advantage, but I'm sure they also have patrols out here if there is this much security. Luckily, with the cover from this storm," explained Lazarus, stopping for a breath as a loud crack of thunder boomed around them "The rain should hide our scent and make us hard to identify from afar, while the thunder will surely keep their sensitive ears from being able to differentiate your footsteps from the precipitation and cracks of lightning. The Kig-Yar and the Hunters shouldn't be able to spot us, if there are any," The squad's expressions were unreadable - mostly because of their helmets.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going,"

**XxHis_RolexX**

_**1901 Hours, August 31**__**st**__**, 2552 (Military Calendar)/  
**__**Lat. 31° 41` 28.81``, Long. -71° 6` 12.66``  
**__**Unknown Covenant occupied Island, Bermuda Triangle, Earth**_

Everyone was in motion: After a short argument with Buck about the buddy system, Lazarus took Red with him towards the nearest spire whilst avoiding spotlights; on the condition she follow his orders. The process started easy, with the two ducking whenever they saw the intense white about to find their position. Weaving in and out of bushes, trees and boulders, the duo designated Midnight Team keep a gradual, quiet pace. Lazarus and Red received had no encounters along the way, but when they reached the spire, both hid behind a large boulder in the shape of a lightning bolt. Two Elite Spec Ops units guarded the entrance into the spire; each held a Plasma Repeater which mimicked their sleek shark-like appearance.

"I want you to get into position to shoot _that_ Sangheili," ordered Lazarus, as he tagged his own target and got into a prone position hidden by bushes while Red got ready, away from him after flicking a blue acknowledgement light on. Lazarus could see her Friend or Foe tag move away on his motion sensor which was flickering badly from the weather. As he aimed at his Elite, Lazarus accounted atmospheric pressure, the rain, wind, gravity and all the gimmicks that could mess up his shot while his VISR did the same "Ready?" he whispered over the COM…she blinked blue again after a moment. "On my mark, Three…" started Lazarus as the Elites started shuffled their feet in annoyance from the rain and began walking on predetermined routes "Two…" The Corporal tracked his target to compensate for the movement "One…" He made a few minor adjustments. Normally, the Elites would have been killed by now, but he was less sure of Dawson's ability "…Mark!" Two silent, simultaneous .50 Caliber bullets ripped through each Elite's skull and splattered barely visible purple blood onto the wet ground. Midnight team scattered from their cover and worked together to drag the Elites out of sight like they were trained to do. It took them both to lift up one limp, heavy Elite as each weighed over 180 kilograms.

"You should go up first Corporal," suggested Dawson, surprising Figueroa as he was going to order her to stay down here anyways "I'll take gunpoint here and make sure no one goes and disturbs you," Lazarus nodded, but in case she couldn't tell in the rain he turned his AL on blue.

"If I don't contact you within 3 minutes, it's not safe. Don't come looking for me and don't contact me: Don't be a hero. Locate the others and find another way inside the Citadel, understand" he said forcefully. It took a few seconds for her to give a green all go signal. Before Figueroa could leave his cover to reach the spire, she put a gloved hand on his shoulder to see her visor down, rain pouring into her helmet. Her eyes were neon green in the darkness and they were giving him a cold, daring stare - but there was softness in the crinkles around them. They told him everything even as she mouthed the words "Don't die on me," Lazarus stared back at her hypnotic eyes as she put her visor back up. He left her there without another word and entered the spire in which the thrum of rain outside was dulled to a distant roar. The low hum of the grav-lift was dominant in this building. As he stepped hesitantly into it, the lift took him up slowly - slower than the reports he's always heard on the Covenant technology. _Ah, the storm. Not even _they _can compete with Mother Nature._ Then Lazarus thought about Red again. _She's become attached…_

"Corporal, you have an urgent request," spoke Pierre suddenly as he opened up a text box to the bottom left of Figueroa's HUD "I can't trace the source, but they need to speak with you,"

Request: [Closed Channel]

Subject: [Classified] [[URGENT]]

"Open a secure channel…I have a clue as to what they want," enjoined Lazarus.

"Yessir," replied Pierre, and as he did s, words appeared on the text box.

(Corporal Lazarus Figueroa, affirm _The Code_) The soldier stared at the words.

"_Seventh Column_," he replied and more words appeared on screen.

(Password accepted…We have a separate mission for you now that you're alone)

"Talk away,"

(This concerns objective 04 of your separate copy of the Sea Lion assignment)

"Evac possible hostages?"

(Precisely. Higher authorities have placed an order for you to eliminate any civilians you find trapped on that island)

"I see," Lazarus thought for a few moments "You want me to not save any of them?"

(Always with the details, Corporal. However, there is evidence of a missing marine biologist working for ONI in your current region who disappeared a couple days ago. Dr. Andreas Yoshimitsu should be among the group)

"Do I save him?"

(He should have a data crystal with him on all his work with marine animals that may help us make cheap, incredibly strong suits for ordinary soldiers. Retrieve it)

"And?"

(Do what you do best Figueroa Honestly, we didn't expect you to be so thick headed. Terminate him and all the rest, unless there be a high official there. You must also keep this a secret from your teammates, they would not bold well on it.)

"This is a lot of fuss to kill them all,"

(The public must not know of the Covenant on Earth. If any one of the hostages escaped into a city once brought back to a safe location, and they decide to spread the word, panic would ensue and all morale would be lost. This fiction of security is for everyone's good, we just need to be prepared for when the real threat comes)

"It shall be done," replied Lazarus as he could see the upper opening of the gravity lift's elevator like cylinder. He switched out to his Magnum.

(God speed, Corporal) The text box blinked out.

"My ethics subroutines are conflicting with my practical logic analyzers," announced Pierre sounding distressed.

"Override them," instructed Figueroa "This isn't a time to screw around and act like children," he leapt out of the grav lift and swiftly took out the targets he expected, one by one. A jackal felt the first bullet split its head from between its eyes, and before landing on the floor, two other jackals were taken out in similar fashions. An Elite tried to come behind the advancing ODST but found a bullet in its gut. The Elite growled in pain and aimed its Needle Rifle towards Figueroa's face and fired…but Lazarus already rolled over to the hulking figure and out of the way. He took out his knife and thrust it into the Elite's open maw. It squealed in pain as the knife continued to rip through its head until being shoved out one eye and scraping bone. Communications were luckily not working so the alien's howls were unheard as the rain outside blocked out any and all sound from reaching the other Covenant. As a last, pitiful resort in the alien's highly painful but alive state, it unsheathed the energy daggers from its wrist and tried to stab at the ODST. Figueroa, however, claimed back his own combat knife out of its maw and stabbed the alien's right wrist as it recoiled from having the knife pulled out. After cutting through armor, skin and bone, Figueroa stabbed the rest of the dagger into the Sangheili's left wrist, connecting them both together. With its hands "tied," the Corporal then proceeded to pull his Magnum back out as the alien struggled to free the stabbed arms "Bastardo Extranjero!" Lazarus shot the alien in its hollow, bloodied eye and made a bigger crater into its helmet. The 8 foot tall Elite slumped to the floor, finally dead. Looking over the carnage, Lazarus noticed he wouldn't be able to hide the blood or the bodies. He also found the faint lines of plasma catwalks that connected all the spires together to the Citadel. _Perfect _"Red?" he whispered over the COM, which was still fuzzy.

"It's safe?" she replied a little too eagerly.

"Come on up, it'll take a while," she flicked her AL blue, so Figueroa looked out at the island below, realizing that grav-lift wasn't really going slow at all…the spires were 300 meters tall. Besides that, he saw a couple dozen of mixed Covenant races, all in pairs, all patrolling the island as he predicted. 3 of those pairs were Hunters, with most of the others being a Brute or an Elite with a Grunt or Jackal - never a Brute and Elite. Chloe and Buck were two specks hiding behind a tree, awaiting directions "Okay Sarge, I'm in position and Dawson will be joining me shortly," he called out to them after strengthening his signal slightly. It took several long seconds to hear a reply.

"Good, you might as well give us a Sitrep of my position while you're waiting for her," spoke Buck. Lazarus looked at the immediate area surrounding the duo designated Shrew team.

"You have a Mgalekgolo pair-" started Figueroa.

"Use English, Figueroa…" sighed the Gunnery Sergeant.

"A Hunter pair is heading towards your location from the North. An Elite and Grunt are patrolling farther east, with a Brute and Jackal to the South. You best solution is to head East-Northeast before the Hunters spot you and avoid confrontation with the Elite. The Jackal and Brute's senses together will probably sniff you out faster even through the storm, so with at least the other pair's Grunt being practically useless, you'll be safer. Head towards that dense concentration of trees and stay away from mud. Keep to the wet grass. I'll track your progress and make sure you two don't get harassed," advised the Corporal. Buck winked his AL blue.

"Keep being our eyes in the sky," ordered Buck. Lazarus replied in kind right before Dawson materialized next to him.

"Figueroa," she called while pointing her hand behind her in the dense storm "We got some company heading this way," Lazarus looked at what she was talking about and could make out a couple of Jackals wearing specialized goggles that emitted a faint white light.

"Zir, I am picking up chatter over ze Covenant Battlenet," said Pierre silently so only Lazarus could hear "Channel G…translating into an application now,"

"Keep me informed," replied Figueroa to both of them as he looked back down to Buck and Magnuson. _They're okay for now._ The Corporal turned to face his partner "Make yourself scarce. I'll take care of them," she nodded at him and went into a crouch run towards one of the darkest shadows inside the spire.

"I have the app ready for you to listen to," popped Pierre "Would you like to hear it now?"

"Hold on," hushed Figueroa as he looked over to Magnuson & Buck's position: They were nearing the dark forest but closer to an Elite/Jackal pair, so the soldier directed them "Shrew team, adjust your advance 10° North for 20 meters and hide behind the small rock formation. Stay there until I say it's clear," a couple acknowledgement lights winked blue. Turning his head back to the Jackals, they were still inching forward "Play the app," Pierre did so and an acrid voice came online.

"Spire 5's hasn't responded since the communicators started working again," muttered one Jackal.

"Das and Der have always been incompetent. That Elite must be a terrible leader as well!" spat the other.

"They may be incompetent, but they follow their duties…this human storm is very odd. First it took out our shields and long distance transmitters. The rain is as thick as the night and its reducing my senses. This abnormality might have permanently destroyed their communicators," ranted the first.

"…I still believe they're incompetent," murmured the 2nd.

"Enough of your squabbling, Den!"

"Stupid, Die,"

Speaking of odd…Lazarus thought about the Jackals' names and quickly rubbed off their relation just as fast. They were getting closer and stepped onto the Plasma walkway's generator, just as Figueroa got into a crooked corner in the shadows. The Jackals scanned the circular hull with their goggles and couldn't find their teammates anywhere - as they were on the other side of the circular room the whole groups was in. Figueroa couldn't talk to Dawson without the Kig-Yar hearing and he decided to let her get another kill in, so he blinked his AL in Morse code: "F-i-r-e-stop-o-n-stop-t-h-r-e-e," Then he tapped once as he hoped she understood the message. Twice as he raised his M6C at the Jackal he decided to tag as his target, which looked in his direction.

"Ah! It's-!" yelled the Jackal as Lazarus clicked a third time and shot it in the throat, effectively silencing it - just as Red fired one of her own bullets into the other's frail chest. Purple blood splattered on the floor and clattering Carbines were the result of their kills. Dawson came out of her hiding place and Figueroa walked up to her, stepping over the dead bodies.

"Nice jo-" she started to say.

"We don't have much time. The Covenant will be on to us soon," said Figueroa quickly, then moving towards the edge of the spire to check out how Shrew team was doing "Buck, head out now. The Hunters didn't seem to notice you and the Elite/Jackal pair has moved on,"

"Yeah, about that," replied Buck "We found a cave that seems to head under the Citadel. It looks like someone was here before them and had a lot of time on their hands, definitely not the Covies,"

"Interesting…" muttered Figueroa.

"You two should try and blow a hole in the wall to get inside," Dawson proposed "We'll keep the Covies busy while you ring their doorbell,"

"Affirmed," agreed Buck.

"More chatter zir, this time a little more uneasy," warned Pierre "They found human footprints and are going to account for their prisonerz right now. They're not that worried though because of the storm…no one's going to leave wiff how bad it iz,"

"We should get moving on clearing the other spires," motioned Figueroa, switching out to his Sniper Rifle.

"Of course," replied Dawson "Less snipers they have, the better for all of us," Midnight team then went towards the nearest plasma walkway with Red hesitantly putting a boot on the ethereal floor.

"No need to be afraid," said Figueroa calmingly.

"I'm having Déjà vu…" she muttered. Lazarus chuckled "And I'm not afraid, just being cautious is all,"

"Another word synonymous with fear to me,"

"Stuff it,"

"Contacts ahead," Lazarus saw two more Jackals far away and started to wonder if their motion sensors were even working. He pulled out his silenced DMR and shot a bullet through each of their heads before they could even react.

"Tango…down?" said Red disbelievingly "If you could kill like that, then what's the point of me being with you?

"You're not as useless as you think," replied Lazarus as he ran forward on the walkway "Come on," Red followed him and as they were running across the translucent walkway, Pierre popped open a window of himself on Figueroa's HUD.

"I have…unpleasant news," said the AI tentatively.

"What now?" asked the Corporal.

"They are on high alert now and know someone else is on the island. A Zealot team is being sent to track you all along with Brute Shock Troopers,"

"Wonderful,"

"Huh?" asked Dawson.

"Forget it,"

"Zare iz one more disturbing thing about diz situation," continued Pierre.

"As if there wasn't enough…" sighed Lazarus.

"Zealots are the highest class of Elite, Jackal and Grunt warriors. These soldiers are only used on very special occasions that involve Forerunner artifacts,"

"Are you saying an artifact is on Earth?"

"Why else would the Zealots be here in such a zmall force? Spec Ops could have scouted the planet instead,"

"Save that information into a special file. Trace all conversations related to Covenant religion and any talk about artifacts," ordered Figueroa.

"Being done as we speak," chirped Pierre.

"Good,"

"Uh, Fig? We have Zealots coming out of the base…and Brutes with jetpacks," mentioned Red, stating what she could not hear from the Corporal's conversation with the AI. When Lazarus looked, he found the Elites in their signature white armor followed by Brutes with their thruster packs, and then a squad of Grunts and Jackals. The Sangheili carried Energy swords, Needle Rifles, Plasma Repeaters and Plasma Launchers. Jiralhanae held Bruteshots, Spikers and Concussion Rifles. The Unggoy and Kig-Yar lugged many different assortments of powerful weapons as well, and all of the Zealots were ready to track down the intruder. They numbered 25 in all. While Lazarus was observing all this, he and Red reached the empty spire of the two Kig-Yar they killed. Lazarus took a good look around again. The rain hasn't let up one bit, but he started to see a faint blue light come up slowly from around all the spires as it started to surround the whole island. It continued to rise up and over them and them, reaching for one invisible point in the sky. _Mierda! Their shields are up._ The most immediate effect when the plasma membrane finished enveloping the island - the rain stopped and it was much quieter.

"They have the shield generators up," announced Figueroa unnecessarily.

"Shit," swore Dawson, stomping her foot on the 'ground.' At that moment, several shrieks and roars came from around the island with the Zealots sprinting towards their spire.

"They've spotted you," pointed out Pierre. _Why is everyone saying the most barefaced things?_

"Silence Pierre," shushed Figueroa, looking through the scope of his Sniper Rifle at the Zealot team, who were making themselves hard to track with the Sniper Rifle.

"Who?" asked Red.

"Never mind that - they've spotted us," the Corporal reiterated.

"Obviously," she looked at the advancing small army "Think we can take them?"

"I don't - I mean, we don't have enough ammo, but I have another idea,"

"All right, let's hear it,"

"You're not going to like it,"

**XxCrystal_ClearxX**

_**1922 Hours, August 31**__**st**__**, 2552 (Military Calendar)/  
**__**Lat. 31° 41` 28.81``, Long. -71° 6` 12.66``  
**__**Unknown Covenant occupied Island, Bermuda Triangle, Earth**_

[Processing COM Data…standby]

A wave of static covers a screen and creates a scratchy noise for a few moments.

[Uplinking team video modules to CODENAME: HAMMERHEAD…standby]

The screen cleared to a greenish tint, scanning a large cavern glowing with the outlines made by the VISR against several crystalline structures. Boxes holding - the screen turned to a complete blur again, but noises could still be heard.

"You s- th-t?" asked an unknown voice, barely audible and making a discordant sound.

"Y-, Merc-ry Ful-, - - a-e -n - - big surprise!" spoke another voice.

[Strengthening signal, clearing up audio. LNA volume rising, prepare for full integration…accessing subconscious visual sectors…standby…Activate DDS Operation now]

A perfect picture of what CWO Chloe Magnuson and Gunnery Sergeant Buck were looking at came into view, along with their voices.

"So what you're saying is that all this was used for mining hundreds of years ago?" asked Buck.

"Yes and no," replied Chloe "This Mercury Fulminate is a lot more clean,"

"English please," sighed Buck.

"Oh, sorry Eddie," she said, using a kiddy version of Buck's first name "It's pretty damn fresh and well preserved. Someone must have restarted whatever mining expedition there was here. The Covies haven't been visiting this place that long, remember?"

"Yea, yea. So how are we going to use all this?"

"Whadda ya think? We pile everything into one spot - very carefully - and blow the fuck outta this place," Chloe started picking up boxes of Mercury Fulminate and bringing them towards a seemingly random piece of wall. Buck helped her but was much slower with his movements, remembering the fact that Hg(CNO)2 is very sensitive to friction. By the time the Sergeant brought over three 30 lbs. boxes of the primary explosive, Chloe was able to carry 8 boxes over to the predetermined spot. "You know Sarge, we got an army of squid heads above us. Try moving that cute ass a little faster," she said mockingly.

"Magnuson! That was t-totally uncalled for!" he sputtered.

"Calm down doc. Sheesh, you're so uptight after hearing green-eyes with _'El Diablo'_"

"His actions were against Marshall law,"

"What's your excuse when you were shagging Blondie?"

"That's different, she's…she's ONI now,"

"She works in the same line of business, Buck. Just let Figgy have his fun,"

"I can't believe you're just accepting this murderer as if he's long lost family!" The Chief Warrant Officer than rose her voice to a bitter tone after she placed another box of the explosive crystal.

"And what do we do, Sergeant? Do we play paintball with our fellow Insurrectionists? What about all the ET's that happened to make an appearance and wanted to kill us off all of a sudden? They sure got some colorful jellies and jams whenever we _shoot_ at them! What, just because we fight aliens means we don't kill people with families back at their home?" she yelled.

"I liked you better when you were that shy ODST that didn't question anyone!" jeered Buck.

"I liked you better when you weren't the complete fucking asshole you are now!" she retorted.

"Enough!" bellow the Sergeant, pushing her against the wall, then more tiredly "Enough…I'm sorry. I don't see any good in him, Chloe…he has no regard for human life…just himself, his wallet,"

"And his sex drive…" muttered Magnuson. Buck let her go and she rubbed her arms where he squeezed her. He got down to business.

"So, again, how are we setting off all these?"

"My Satchel Charge has a timer. I'll give us 30 seconds to get away, we'll need it. All these explosives will probably level the whole cavern and whatever's above it,"

"We should probably tell the other two then,"

"Yeah, but I don't think it would affect them too much," she replied while unhitching her backpack-like bomb and placed it on the boxes of Mercury Fulminate. Chloe inputted the codes needed to set the timer for 30 seconds. When she finished, it started to beep "Let's get going!" She ran back towards the way they came with Buck on her heels "I actually enjoyed that little heart-to-heart, Edward. We never do that anymore…you're one of my best friends,"

"Yeah whatever," said Buck, ignoring the fact she used his first name again "Things are different now,"

20 Seconds…

"They don't have to be," spoke Chloe softly, despite her sprinting pace.

"Too late,"

"Well, if you ever want to…feel free to be rough like that again,"

"Jesus, Chloe!" exclaimed Buck "Is that all you ever think about?"

"Nah, sometimes I like my privacy and a computer screen when I'm really hot and bothered,"

"Goddamn nympho," he mumbled.

10 Seconds…

The two ran out of the cavern and immediately tried to contact Lazarus while they got behind cover, but they met radio interference from the glowing sphere high above them. Somehow, the combination of the plasma shield and the storm's Electromagnetic Wave were messing with their COMs.

5 Seconds…

"Figueroa, can you hear us!" yelled Buck into his mic.

4…

"You need to find cover ASAP, just in case!" spoke the Sergeant again.

3…

"We hear you, speak Sarge," spoke Lazarus, calmly.

2...

"We're blowing a hole now, hit the deck!"

1...

"I don't believe it can possibly affect-" it was too late as the island experienced a shockwave of energy that shook the Earth severely.

[Transmission lost. Recordings saved into Data Log 322, DDS trial # 421 terminated]

* * *

"Life is hard. After all, it kills you." - Katharine Hepburn

* * *

**Afterthought: **I need some help learning how to "advertise" my own story, any suggestions? I realize I need to go back and re-revise and edit my chapters. I didn't catch alot of mistakes the first time.


End file.
